Furnace Repair Tips for the Do-It-Yourself Home Owner

The best time to inspect, maintain and repair a furnace is the summer or early autumn, before heating season gets here. Although most people opt to call a professional HVAC service person for big repairs, there are also plenty of smaller repairs and maintenance tasks that can easily be handled by the average do-it-yourself home owner.

Before performing any maintenance on a furnace, you should read the owner's manual that came with it, so that you are familiar with your particular furnace. Besides making sure that the furnace filter is changed on a regular basis, there are also some preventative maintenance tasks that you can take care of. Be sure to reference these tasks in your owner's manual, to make sure you understand how it should be performed for your furnace.

Do a thorough visual examination of your furnace, paying special attention to the visible electrical connections and wires. If you find any loose wires, unraveled wires, loose screws or nuts, or anything that looks like it has been burned, this can be a sign of problems. You can make the repairs yourself if you are comfortable doing so. Otherwise, have an HVAC professional, like those at Champs Mechanical, take care of this furnace repair for you.

You should also inspect your chimney and vent connection pipe for any gaps or signs of rust. The components of your venting system are prone to deterioration over time, so you should inspect them at least once each year. Any problems should be repaired immediately.

It is also important to make sure that you furnace is cycling properly, and that your thermostat is accurate. You can use your thermostat to confirm that it is properly cycling through the start-up and shut-down phases. Then, before you complete your inspection, be sure that the safety switch on the furnace door popped out when the door was removed. To avoid any problems with this safety feature, clean it and remove any obstructions so that it operates smoothly.

Keeping your HVAC Equipment in Prime Condition

Looking around one can find some kind of HVAC equipment installed in every home. This equipment has become an essential part of our lives as they relate to ventilation, air conditioning and heating of the home. However it must be understood that any equipment installed in the home needs regular maintenance to keep them working in good condition. Unlike popular imagination, it does not require vast knowledge and experience to carry out regular maintenance on these fixtures. Here are some tips that you can follow, which will help you maintain the fixtures in your home.

Perhaps the most common task you need to carry out in maintaining HVAC equipment is change the filters, which have been installed in them. These filters can be purchased at one of the many retailers that specialize in selling such products. You could purchase the filters for prices as low as $1 but would also have to contend with low quality. Better quality filters would perhaps cost a little more but would also save you the trouble of making frequent changes to the retailers shop. These filters need to be changed every 60 days if you wish to leave the system running in good condition. They will also help your HVAC system pump air at a consistent speed.

Removing dust and dirt from the blower is another job that you will need to carry out on a regular basis. Here too you can use the vacuum cleaner in your home to remove the accumulated dust and dirt from the blower.

While the tasks mentioned above can be carried out by any person, there are some tasks, which are best, left to be handled by a qualified HVAC technician. Look for companies like Atlanta HVAC, where all technicians carry state licenses. In depth maintenance tasks are better handled by people qualified and trained at these jobs. Trying to carry out such tasks without any experience will only lead to damages of the system.

A Career in HVAC

With more and more people out of work, individuals are looking for new stable careers. One career field in which many people are interested in is the HVAC industry. A career in this industry can be a challenging and rewarding career. Jobs such as these require little schooling and are always in demand.

There are a number of HVAC schools throughout the country which provide in-depth training in this industry. The training can take an average of 1 to 2 years depending on the courseload. There are also programs of a apprenticeship which may take longer but offer the benefit of having a paid job while you learn. The cost to attend an HVAC school is also quite reasonable. The typical cost for HVAC training will only be a few thousand dollars. This may seem like a lot, but compared to the cost of a four year college degree it can be a bargain.

Finding a job after training can also be very successful. HVAC repair is something which cannot be outsourced overseas. There is always a demand for qualified technicians and this training can almost guarantee you a job. Many of the schools will also have placement programs to help find a job for you. Many of the schools even have waiting lists for qualified technicians because the demand is so high.

So, if you are in search of a new career because you have lost your current job and your industry has collapsed, or you are freshly of high school and deciding on whether or not to pursue a four year degree and take your chances of finding a job, a career in HVAC may be right for you. Always javascript:void(0)compare the programs at several schools to see what may be the best fit for you. Tuition and the level of instruction can vary greatly from each of these institutions.

Coil Cleaning and a New HVAC Blog

I found a new blog that I wanted to share with you all as I was cruising around Technorati. It's a new HVAC blog and while they don't have a whole ton of information now, I always like to let people know when I find something that might be useful down the road.

Now I was also on youtube  and I stumbled across this nice video that explains coil cleaning. For those of you who do not know cleaning of air conditioning coils can extend the life of an AC unit significantly. Not only will it extend the life it will also improve the efficiency of the unit. For those who don't know, this saves you money every single month! Do it, you will be glad that you did. OK here is the video:

HVAC Wiring Diagrams

In today's lesson I'm going to talk a little bit about HVAC wiring. Now you don't need to be a licensed electrician to handle some basic wiring for a central heating and air conditioning unit. In the video that I would like to share with you today, you will learn some standard procedures to follow whenever setting up a new system or re-wiring an older unit. There are a variety of different reasons that you might need to do something like this and I'll get into specific details down the road. OK without any further ado let me give you the video lesson:

How helpful was that? I hope that you aspiring HVAC techs and handymen were able to learn a little something from today's post. As always if you have any questions about the wiring diagram or any of the other information that we have presented on this site, feel free to leave a comment and I'll get you an answer just as soon as humanly possible. Thanks for reading!

Oil Furnaces

Have you ever wondered how an oil furnace actually works? I know that this was something that truly fascinated me when I first got interested in the heating and air conditioning industry. How could you control a fire and make sure that it never got too hot but that it was hot enough to heat up the entire house. Also how could you possibly do this without making the home smell like smoke or fire? These were all burning(pun intended) questions that ran through my mind as a young aspiring hvac tech. Well after a long career in the heating and cooling business I can tell you that all of my childhood curiosities have been answered and much more. So I know that there are lots of little kids out there who are just like I was and for them I am here to provide some help. This might just inspire them to make it a go like I did. So here it is, a nice little video that I found that does a good job of explaining exactly how an oil furnace actually works. Enjoy!



Did you enjoy the video? I know I did, I loved it. That is the beauty of the internet for today's generation. See when I was coming up you had to actually go find someone like the guy in the video if you wanted to learn about something like that. Now you can cruise over to my blog with a few keystrokes and 10 minutes later you have your answer. Make sure to stay tuned for even more great HVAC information.

Heat Pumps Part 1

If you are interested in learning some information on heat pumps then I have the perfect video for you. This is going to be a two part series and I think that the information presented in each of these videos is really spot on. The technician in the video goes through and points out several important components and really gives the novice some very valuable insight from an expert perspective. Since this blog is devoted to all things HVAC, we will be covering heat pumps in great detail over the coming weeks and months. I think this is a great starting point for a video in this series. Stay tuned for part two and then for some in depth treatment of heat pumps and related technologies.



I hope you enjoyed that video and learned something useful. Little by little if you keep learning you will gain the confidence and ability to troubleshoot and or install all common heating and air equipment.

So you are looking for some information on HVAC huh? Well you have come to the right place. HVAC Central is the #1 destination on the internet for all things related to the wonderful world of HVAC. For the uninitiated HVAC stands for Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning, since that is quite a mouthful, you can see why people in the industry coined the acronym HVAC. This blog is designed to give you information on everything from great local contractors in your area to the best trade schools where you can learn to become a certified HVAC technician. Keeping cool in the summer and warm in the winter is what HVAC is all about and I hope that you are able to learn a little from the various resources that we publish here. Happy reading! Cheers.